Fataawa no. 188 the ruling regarding the two Adhans of a Friday
Q: What is the ruling regarding the two Adhans for the Friday prayer? Is prayer allowed of a Friday with one Adhan only? And is there a particular time allocated between the two Adhans?
Shaykh Ahmed al-Najmi rahimahullah said:
Indeed the two Adhan are Sunnah. As for the last Adhan then it was practised in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ, Umar رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ and in the time of Uthmaan رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ,
the number of people increased and so Uthmaan t commanded that a second Adhan to be called before going to the Masjid.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Upon you is to follow my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs. Bite on to (this way) with your molar teeth.” (Saheeh Sunan Ibn Majah, A-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and Musnad Imam Ahmed)
Uthmaan b. Affaan رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ is from the rightly guided caliphs and acting on his Sunnah is an obligation due to the statement of the Prophet ﷺ, “Upon you is to follow my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs. Bite on to (this way) with your molar teeth.”
As you can see the hadeeth commands that you take the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs and that you bite onto it with the molar teeth. And whoever said that this is a bid’ah then he is mistaken. His speech is not listened to. As for the time span allocated between the two Adhans then it is better that it is at least one hour because the first Adhan is to remind the one who is unaware, also to wake up the one that is sleeping and to remind the one that has forgotten. This, therefore, is best performed at a time whereby everyone can prepare themselves for the prayer which should include bathing, putting on clothes, perfuming oneself, using the miswak (tooth-stick) and other than that. This, so that one can go to the Friday prayer in the best of ways and more appropriate in calling upon His Lord because the Prophet ﷺ had mentioned all of these aspects as is known in the sunnan (recorded practices, agreements and sayings of the Prophet ﷺ) and to Allaah belongs all success.
End.
Shaykh Muhammad b. Haadi حَفِظَهُ الله once left his house an hour before the main Adhan and revived this Sunnah that Uthmaan رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ had performed by doing this Adhan at his local Masjid and this also for the betterment of the general society.
There is nothing authentically reported that any of the Companions had opposed Uthman رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ in this. Shaykh Saalih b. Fawzan al-Fawzan حَفِظَهُ الله said whoever says this is bid’ah then his statement is bid’ah. (This is only a summary)
Translated by Dr. Abdulilah Lahmami حَفِظَهُ الله